Crazy Heart - A" Weary" Feeling  
| I'm not really sure where to start with this one. You've probably heard the buzz surrounding Jeff Bridges performance. He is likely to earn his fifth career Oscar nomination and (as it looks now), his first win. It would certainly be deserved for his performance here. At one point, Crazy Heart was set to go straight to DVD... that is until some people saw it, critics loved it, and now, here we are creating major Oscar buzz. Funny how the industry works.
Crazy Heart tells the story of Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges), a washed up country singer trying to make ends meet. Unfortunately, this story has been told a million times before and the film does little to separate it from the pack. You may hear certain people saying "Crazy Heart is this years The Wrestler." Well, they wouldn't be wrong. I can think of five almost exact parts of the two films just off the top of my head - washed up former star, neglectful father trying to rekindle their relationship with their child, a great song written specifically for the movie, a life changing medical emergency and the younger love interest (with a child!). I could probably find more if I really thought about it.
While the film is strong performance wise, its the story that really lacks. The film is like a giant walking cliche coming to devour us all with its "watch me get back on my feet" teeth. It bites into you but leaves a nasty scar that you really have no desire to look at again. My biggest problem with the film was the relationship between Jeff's character and Maggie Gyllenhaal's. I wasn't buying into it for a second. It wasn't believable and the circumstances in which it came about were horrible. I absolutely hated it when they were on screen together. No chemistry what so ever. Their relationship should have been more platonic or even paternal - then it would have been more realistic. I realize that their relationship lead to him writing the song, but they could have done it in another way.
As I said before, Jeff Bridges is truly fantastic in this film. Any accolades he has received are well deserved. Crazy Heart is Jeff's movie - without him, it just wouldn't be the same. He was actually believable, like he really could have been this person. It's really unfortunate that this performances outshines the film as a whole. Maggie Gyllenhaal does a pretty damn good job too but again, its unfortunate that I didn't believe her character with Jeff's; and they were together most of the time. Some great supporting performances from Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell as well. Kudos to Jeff and Colin for actually singing too - they sounded great!
The music was great, as expected. The main theme for the movie, "The Weary Kind" is likely to be Crazy Heart's other Oscar nominee and winner. After overlooking The Wrestler last year for song, the Academy better smarten up and at least nominate this one. It perfectly en captures the feeling of the movie (although for the wrong reasons).
So in the end, Crazy Heart left me with a "weary" feeling. I wanted to like this movie more, but just couldn't get over so many of the missteps it took to get to the end. It felt like an eternity at times although it is a relatively short film. The film may have been a bit slow at times, but overall, it was fairly decent and worth a look. At least watch it for Jeff Bridges.
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